NHL Playoff Death Watch: Strap in for Eastern Conference chaos

Since we're down to the final moments of postseason life for teams in contention, Puck Daddy solemnly begins a daily countdown to annihilation. 

Huge, big, impressive win from the Boston Bruins on Friday night at the St. Louis Blues. The Detroit Red Wings weren’t too shabby either in defeating the Minnesota Wild.

Both of those teams upped their point totals, while the Wings remained a point in back of the Bruins. They’re tied in points with the Philadelphia Flyers, but Philly has two games in-hand.

It continues to look like the Red Wings will only get in over the Bruins. April 7, they play in Boston. Wow.

Here are the current standings. The Death Watch tracks the final Wild Card spot and the teams that are chasing it. Their “tragic number” is the number of points gained by the final wild card team or lost by the team chasing it.

All playoff percentages are from Sports Club Stats; tragic numbers and other figures via the NHL. A team is eliminated from play-offs when their "Tragic Number" hits 0.

The Eastern Conference picture, via the NHL:

The Red Wings are in Toronto to face Mike Babcock with a chance to hop over the idle Bruins into third place. The Flyers begin a vital back-to-back vs. the Senators (a must-win) and then at the Penguins (a tougher ask). The Penguins are in Brooklyn to face the Islanders. If the Rangers lose to the Sabres and the Islanders win, they’ll match them in points with a game in-hand – and they face each other on April 7.

Here are the latest Eastern Conference playoff odds from Sports Club Stats:

*Wild Card Teams

Fare thee well New Jersey Devils, who were eliminated. The Carolina Hurricanes would be next, with a tragic number of two.

Detroit has a 27-percent chance of finishing in third place in the Atlantic.

Meanwhile, in the West:

The Avs’ tragic number fell to four with their loss to Washington, failing to capitalize on the Wild’s loss.

Here are the latest Western Conference playoff odds from Sports Club Stats:

*Wild Card Teams 

The Predators are in, and can all but lock up the top wild card (and a Pacific Division bracket berth) with a win over the Sharks.

The Stars, meanwhile, have a two-point lead and a huge ROW advantage over the Blues with four games left. It’s looking more and more like we’ll get Blues/Blackhawks and Stars vs. North Stars, er, Wild in Round 1.

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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